NEW DELHI, August 18: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre, all states and Union Territories, as well as social media platforms Meta and X, on a PIL seeking to restrain police organisations from posting content online that reveals the identities of accused persons or depicts them in a dehumanising manner.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notices after hearing submissions from senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for PIL petitioner Hemendra Patel.
The petition seeks directions to states to remove from official police social media accounts posts that reveal the faces or identities of accused persons or show them being subjected to degrading treatment.
More Read
It specifically refers to photographs and videos allegedly showing accused persons “handcuffed, tied with ropes, beaten with sticks, made to kneel, dragged or pulled down stairs.”
The plea, filed through advocate-on-record Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj, also seeks uniform guidelines regulating how police organisations use social media platforms.
“Direct the Respondent-States to frame appropriate guidelines regulating the use of social media platforms by their respective police organisations, particularly to prevent the upload of any such content which reveals the faces/identities of accused persons and/or depicts them in a dehumanising manner,” the petition said.
Plea seeks safeguards on police social media posts
The petitioner has asked the states to establish guidelines to prevent such material from being published in the future, while also seeking removal of content already uploaded on police social media handles.
The PIL has also made the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Meta Platforms Inc and X Corp parties to the proceedings.
With regard to social media platforms, the plea seeks appropriate policies and user guidelines for Instagram and Facebook, requiring safeguards against publication of material that identifies accused persons or depicts them being subjected to “inhuman, derogatory or dehumanising treatment”.
The petition further seeks a formal, transparent and structured mechanism through which users can report such content and have it removed promptly.
“Where such content has already been posted,” the plea seeks, the platforms should provide a mechanism for “prompt taking down of such content upon user reporting.”
The Supreme Court’s notice seeks responses from the concerned authorities and platforms before the matter is considered further.
